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Mohamed Nasheed (Anni), Co-Founder of Maldivian Democratic Party

"We will establish pluralistic democracy in the Maldives. The people of Maldives deserve better and Maldivian Democratic Party is determined to achieving its objectives". Mohamed Nasheed (Anni)

Mohamed Nasheed (Anni)

Anni is without a doubt one of the most vocal and respected critics of the government of Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. He is also one of the founder members of the Maldivian Democratic Party. Amongst other achievements of his social and political career, the most significant event was to serve as a Member of Parliament for Male’ in 1999, the biggest constituency in the country.

He now lives in London and has been granted political asylum in the UK. Ever since the events of September 2003 Anni has been working fulltime to promote and establish a democratic government in the Maldives. According to him there is no telling what Gayoom will do to him if he returns.

Mr. Nasheed holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Maritime Law from the University of Liverpool, UK. He returned to Maldives in 1989 and was a Senior Writer of the famous Sangu Magazine. After Sangu was banned in 1990, he was arrested and held in solitary confinement for 18 month and later served an additional 9 months as part of a the 2 years 6 months sentence for his involvement in Sangu. This magazine was very popular with the public but was later banned for inciting criminal activities in the Maldives.

Mr. Nasheed was also arrested and sentenced for 2 years and 6 months for sedition as a result of writing an article about Elections in the Maldives in Inter Press Services (IPS). On this occasion he served 9 months in jail.

His third case was the most amazing of all. After being elected MP for Male’, Mr. Nasheed began debating and opposing government lines in the parliament, submitting bills and so on. In fact, what he was doing was to bring some credibility to the whole process of legislation rather than act as a rubber stamp body to endorse the proposals of Gayyoom's government.

To the absolute amazement of a great many Maldivians, especially his constituents in Male’ he was defamed and charged with theft and sentence to 2 years 6 months for the third time. According to Mr. Nasheed, he had taken certain items from rubbish at the demolition site of Velaanaage in Male’ (the residence of former President Ibrahim Nasir). Mr. Nasheed was there with Hon. Aneesa and Hon. Umar Zahir when he noticed old black and white picture of Nasir's son and his drawing book lying amongst the rubbish. He asked the Ministers with him if it would be alright to take those out to preserve them. He had later arranged to take them to the relevant authority. However, Anni was arrested and charged with stealing government property, 40 items in total referring to the 40 pages of the art book he took. According to Anni, from the day he got elected as an MP, there was a plot to remove his from the parliament. Anni was not able to defend himself nor was he given access to lawyer despite that being a constitutional right. Anni was sentenced to 18 months and he served more than 6 months before being pardoned. According to the constitution of the Maldives, Islamic Sharia has to be the basis for all jurisprudence. Hence, his hands should have been amputated. Anni said "I wrote to President twice begging him to implement the Sharia Law and amputate my hands but he did not respond".

As for the future of Maldives, Anni says "We will establish pluralistic democracy in the Maldives. The people of Maldives deserve better and Maldivian Democratic Party is determined to achieving its objectives".

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